


Memories of Laughter

by ami_ven



Category: Firefly
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Community: writerverse, F/M, Post-Movie(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-16
Updated: 2016-02-16
Packaged: 2018-05-21 03:39:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6036462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ami_ven/pseuds/ami_ven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She hadn’t known, when Wash died.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Memories of Laughter

**Author's Note:**

> written for LJ community "writerverse" prompt _And yet, my heart will not despair/ For it’s there/ Just a memory away_ (“Once I Was Loved” from _The Slipper and the Rose_ )

She hadn’t known, when Wash died.

Zoe wasn’t usually one for giving in to impulses, but one morning she’d just looked at the pack of tiny pills— and hadn’t taken one. But then Wash had died, and Zoe had felt so hollow that it took her almost three months to realize it was actually the opposite.

A child. _Wash’s_ child.

“You’ll need to take some vitamins,” said Simon, when she’d gathered the courage to have him confirm it. “But everything seems healthy.”

Mal was quiet when she told him, upset at having temporarily lost his best gunhand, but unable to begrudge her this last bit of her husband. “I want you back, soon as your cargo’s unloaded, hear?” he said, and she managed a smile.

Inara made her tea, not the fancy spiced kind she’d poured for her clients, but a mild soothing blend, and the two women sat in comfortable silence until it was gone. Jayne grunted that she’d be a “good ma” and pretended to know nothing about the tiny knitted socks in the next package his mother sent. Kaylee shyly showed her the crumpled plans for a shipboard baby crib, then squealed with delight when Zoe quietly asked her when it could be built.

River put a small hand to the first mate’s still-flat stomach. “She will make you laugh again,” the girl said.

And months later, when Zoe held his daughter, _their_ daughter, she felt it bubbling up and out, a gentle burst of clear, bright laughter.

THE END


End file.
